Return to El Salvador

Not too long ago I was visiting some friends in Philadelphia to watch a soccer game, when, as sometimes happens, I got to talking about the mining industry and what it means for the community where I grew up in Guatemala. A friend of a friend told me about another friend of his I just had to meet: a documentary filmmaker from Philly who was passionate about the same sort of thing.

As it turns out, that filmmaker was Jamie Moffett. Like me, Jamie is an Eastern University alum. He recently completed and is now promoting a film called Return to El Salvador, featuring the story of an anti-mining activist who had been killed for speaking out, as part of a broader picture of what has been happening in the country as a whole. It’s narrated by Martin Sheen and endorsed by heavy hitters like Ron Sider and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Needless to say, it’s a very important - and at times quite disturbing - film.

I got in contact with Jamie and lined up a time to meet. Slightly modified versions of our interview have now been published at Upside Down World, which focuses on Latin American politics, and in the ePistle, the weekly communiqué from the good folks at Evangelicals for Social Action. Below is an extra that didn’t make the cut for either version, but explains a bit about what Jamie has been up to of late and why he’s crazy enough to go “all in.�

What are the next steps for you and for the film?
We screen a portion of the film June 15 for Canadian Parliament at the request of MP McKay, and specifically the clips related to mining and corporate accountability.  Following that, we present week-long multi-city screenings in Canada starting with out World Premiere at Toronto's Underground Cinema in Chinatown. Screenings in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver follow.

In the United States we are working on lining up a few cities. One of our options that we’re currently developing is a number of one-week runs around the country. We will be doing it in sort of a communal way where we agree to acquire the theater and then faith groups or social justice groups can choose to sponsor a night. They get half the tickets where you get a discount and turn it into a fundraiser if they want. But more importantly, they’re keeping the theater open to folks who may not be in on the story but can walk into the theater and get exposed to it.

We have no backer, no big money in the back pocket. I've had to sell my home to complete production, but I believe in the film and know that this critically important story needed to be told and shared with as wide an audience as possible.

There are a lot of folks like me who want to be the change we want to see in the world, but we simply don’t have the information. I’m happy I can say I spent this time of my life gathering the information and making this story. In a way, it was an education, like going to grad school. It took eighteen months and cost as much as a masters degree! Return to El Salvador is about listening; enabling people to deeply consider how the situation got this way, and now with this knowledge how we, together, can take action.

See also Jamie’s article in The Huffington Post, "Still A Nation Of Immigrants"